The WTA rankings showed stability at the top in the first week following the US Open, while several youngsters posted dramatic climbs after their performances in Guadalajara and Sao Paulo.

There were no changes in the top 20, and the biggest names largely rested after the season-ending Grand Slam. World No 22 Elise Mertens was the highest-ranked player in action last week, losing in the second round in Mexico, while world No 27 Beatriz Haddad Maia was the top-ranked competitor in Sao Paolo.

Aryna Sabalenka remains a long way clear at No 1, leading by 3,292 points over Iga Swiatek, with Coco Gauff a further 59 points back in third. Swiatek will have an opportunity to close the gap at the WTA 500 Korea Open, where she has no points to defend. Sabalenka and Gauff are scheduled to return at the China Open next week.

Sabalenka has now spent 48 consecutive weeks at No 1 for a total of 56 weeks, placing her at No 13 on the all-time list for most weeks atop the WTA Rankings, eight weeks behind Simona Halep.

Teenagers produced the biggest ranking moves. Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic captured the Guadalajara WTA 500 title, defeating Emiliana Arango in the final. Jovic surged 37 places to a career-high of No 36, while Arango rose 33 spots to No 53. Nikola Bartunkova and Elsa Jacquemot fell in the semi-finals in Mexico; Bartunkova climbed 84 places to No 144 and Jacquemot moved up 21 places to No 62.

In Sao Paolo, 19-year-old Tiantsoa Rajaonah won her first tour-level title, beating Janice Tjen in the final and jumping 83 places to a new high of No 131. Rajaonah made her Grand Slam debut at this year’s French Open via a wildcard but lost in the first round. Tjen, who won a match on her US Open debut before losing in the second round, rose from No 130 to No 103 after finishing runner-up.

Great Britain’s Francisco Jones reached the semi-final and improved 12 places to No 73. Philippines star Alex Eala lost in the quarter-final to Tjen and moved up four places to No 57. Sonay Kartal was one of the largest fallers, dropping 29 spots to No 82.

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 11,225 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 7,933
3. Coco Gauff United States – 7,874
4. Amanda Anisimova United States – 5,159
5. Mirra Andreeva – 4,793
6. Madison Keys United States – 4,579
7. Jessica Pegula United States – 4,383
8. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 4,006
9. Zheng Qinwen China – 4,003
10. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 3,833
11. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 3,026
12. Clara Tauson Denmark – 2,721
13. Elina Svitolina Ukraine – 2,606
14. Naomi Osaka Japan – 2,489
15. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic – 2,488
16. Daria Kasatkina Australia – 2,421
17. Belinda Bencic Switzerland – 2,334
18. Emma Navarro United States – 2,310
19. Diana Shnaider – 2,246
20. Paola Badosa Spain – 2,195

Iga Swiatek’s 2025 campaign gathers pace after a season that mixed quieter moments with major success. The world No 2 added a first Wimbledon crown to her resume and followed that with a Cincinnati Open victory, taking her to six Grand Slam titles and her 11th WTA 1000-level trophy. Her Grand Slam run ended at the US Open with a quarter-final defeat, but there is still significant tennis to play and the opportunity to press for the world No 1 ranking.

Her provisional schedule points to an immediate return on the WTA’s Asian swing. Swiatek is due to begin at the WTA 500 Korea Open in Seoul next week. That will be her debut at this WTA 500 event after withdrawing from the 2024 tournament while under provisional suspension following a failed drug test in August 2024. She is slated to be the top seed in Seoul, where Amanda Anisimova and Emma Raducanu are also expected to compete.

After Korea, Swiatek is set for one of the season’s remaining WTA 1000 tournaments in Beijing. She lifted the China Open title in 2023, a run highlighted by dropping only one set, to Caroline Garcia in the quarter-finals, before defeating Liudmila Samsonova in the final. Her provisional suspension prevented her from defending that title in 2024, so the 2025 appearance will be only her second at the event and she will aim to preserve her prior success there.

October promises a first at the Wuhan Open. Swiatek was previously too low-ranked to play before the tournament’s 2020-23 break, and the 2024 edition returned during her provisional ban, so 2025 will be her Wuhan debut. Aryna Sabalenka has won the title in the last three stages of the tournament, a streak Swiatek and others will look to challenge.

Regardless of the Asian swing results, Swiatek’s place at the WTA Finals is secure; she sits second in the race to Riyadh and is on track for a fourth consecutive appearance after debuting at the Year-End Championships in Guadalajara in 2021 and winning the title in Cancun in 2023. At last year’s Finals she exited in the group stage after wins over Barbora Krejcikova and Daria Kasatkina and a defeat to Coco Gauff.

Alex Eala added a second landmark achievement to her 2025 season by capturing the Guadalajara 125 title, becoming the first Filipino woman to win a WTA-level event. The victory followed the breakthrough she produced two weeks earlier at the US Open, where she made her main draw debut at a Grand Slam and registered the first main draw singles win by a Filipino player at a major.

At the US Open Eala upset 14th seed Clara Tauson 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) for her maiden Grand Slam match win, before exiting in round two to Cristina Bucsa. That run earned her 50 ranking points and a $154,000 cheque.

After the US Open exit Eala accepted a late wildcard into the Guadalajara WTA 125 event. Seeded second, she advanced through the draw with wins over Arianna Hartono, Varvara Lepchenko, Nicole Fossa Huergo and Kayla Day to reach her first WTA 125 final. In the title match she recovered from a slow start to beat unseeded Panna Udvardy 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Winners of WTA 125 events receive 125 ranking points, and combined with her US Open points Eala accumulated 175 points from the two weeks. However, with points dropping from the corresponding period 12 months earlier she netted an increase of 150 points to her WTA total. That boost is projected to move her up 14 places to No 61, just a few spots shy of her career best of No 56.

Financially the Guadalajara title added $15,500 to her season earnings, taking her 2025 total to $876,077 and her career prize money to $1,331,985. Her biggest payday earlier this year came at the Miami Open, where reaching the semi-finals earned her $332,160.

Eala is scheduled to return to the WTA Tour at the Sao Paolo WTA 250, where she will be seeded third.